Error Free Books?

This morning I received an email from my publisher, Kindle Direct Publishing. The following is the email’s text:

We’re writing to let you know that at least one of your readers has reported some problems within your book, and we have confirmed the issue.Potential errors have been identified: for example, “alter stone at Stonehenge’s centre.” should be “altar stone at Stonehenge’s centre. (loc: 52), “that surrounded the ancient alter.” should be “that surrounded the ancient altar.” (loc: 1311) Please check them and look for others.

While I fully acknowledge the error and that it may have been pointed out to them by a genuine reader, given that KDP along with Goodreads and CreateSpace are wholly owned subsidiaries of Amazon.com, and have their own forums where the trolls currently lurk, the chances are that it was a troll who pointed out the spelling error to them, hoping to get a reaction from me.

Well they got one, but not necessarily the one they were hoping for.

The person from KDP who sent me the email may be genuine also. But you will pardon me for being overly cautious in this instance, having been caught out once several years back in a similar situation, which led to my being targeted for months by a particularly nasty troll.

If it was a genuine comment made by a genuine reader, then I would point out one thing to them – there is no such thing as an error free book. Even the most fastidious editor within the world of conventional publishing is human. Face it folks, errors like this minor one on my part get missed during the editing process. What did I do with the email? Simple. Nothing. I merely filed it.

Within the world of literature, while companies like Amazon prefer to take the side of the troll over that of the writer and genuine reader, anyone who ‘bites’ when receiving something like this in his or her email tray is in for a nasty surprise.

These days, like most writers I know I have nothing whatsoever to do with the act of engaging with people not known to me. Trust me when I say that in instances like this it is far better to err on the side of caution rather than to react in any way shape or form…

PS – I forgot to mention that the book in question has sold well over five thousand copies to date. So one complaint from a pedant is hardly anything to worry about, is it?

Jack Eason lived in New Zealand for forty-two years until 2000 when he returned to his birthplace in England. As far as he is concerned he will always consider himself to be a Kiwi. After military service in the 1960's, he travelled the world, visiting exotic lands and making many friends. Now in his mid-sixties he is content to write and travel via the Internet.

Besides writing novels and short stories, he contributes to his own blog “Have We Had Help?” Some of his short stories and numerous articles appear in the No: 1 online E-zine “Angie’s DIARY”. His literary interests include science fiction, history, both ancient and modern, and humorous tales like those written by his fellow writer Derek Haines, such as “HAL”. Now retired, he lives in his home town surrounded by his favourite books, ranging from historical fact to science fiction. His literary icons are J.R.R Tolkien, George Orwell, Arthur C Clarke and John Wyndham.

Thanks Andrea. As I said in my article, there is no such thing as an error free book.

What really makes me laugh is that according to a lot of extremely anal individuals within the traditional publishing world, the eBook is the twenty-first century equivalent of the nineteenth century ‘penny dreadfuls’, to be treated with disdain. Well, many of the writers who wrote them back then became extremely popular, much to the chagrin of the establishment. 😉

@Andrea Yes, people want to be entertained. I totally agree. However, I often stop reading a book when I encounter many typographical and grammatical mistakes in the first few pages. For me that means the author was too much in a hurry to get her/his book (self) published. This is a very common mistake, and basically bad for the author’s reputation. On the other hand, even a book I’m currently re-reading like The Invisible Man from H.G. Wells, sixteenth edition (and he was a stickler for correctness in text), still has a typo, here and there…